I Passed The Test

Last fall I went to Hawk Ridge to learn about raptors. A volunteer coordinator there mentioned the owl monitoring survey. Since I was still excited about my close encounter with a barred owl, I thought participating in the owl survey would be a great way to learn more about these wise birds. So I talked to a sibling and together we volunteered to participate. I knew we wouldn’t get a route around our homes because they were all taken. We figured we would get a route in the western part of the state. This week we were given our assigned route. Turns out our route is in the river bluffs just outside of Lake City. Awesome!!! I love the river bluff area. I often thought that if I was going to settle in another part of the state, I’d like the southeastern corner because I love hills and the beauty of that area. Sometime between April 1 and April 15, we will drive down there and scout out our 10-mile route. We’ll do this during the daytime so we can see where we are going. We’ll stop and have dinner. Then, a half hour after the sun sets, we will go back to our route. I hope there isn’t much wind that night. We’ll stop at 10 points (a mile apart) and get out of the car. We will listen for owls for 5 minutes at each stop and record what we hear. If we don’t hear any owls, they want to know that too. Before we do all that, we had to get certified first by taking an on-line quiz. The quiz listed ten owls. We had to correctly identify the sounds that those ten owls make. We had three chances to pass the test. The website had owl sounds to memorize before you took the test. Here are my notes on the owl sounds (their common and uncommon vocalizations). Barred owl - no soup for you, no soup for you-all; excited monkey sounds. Great Horned owl - Ooh, Ooh-ooh, Ooh, Ooh, Eap! Northern Saw Whet - sounds of a heart monitor or water dripping. Long Eared Owl - Ooh (long pause) Ooh (long pause) Meep! Short-eared Owl - Meow, Meow, Meow. Great Gray Owl - Hu (pause) Hu (pause) Hu (pause) Hu (pause) Nyet! Boreal owl - eight Oohs in quick succession. Eastern Screech Owl - Horse whinny, fake snoring. Northern Hawk Owl - 26 Oohs in quick succession, gun shot. Barn Owl-fingernails on a chalkboard, squeaky shoes. I took the test and passed after my second try so now I am certified. But I am so not ready. I have a lot of studying to do before we do our route. Owlpages.com is a good source of information for owl sounds.